Photo Shoot

I subjected the boys to yet another amateur hour photo shoot on the morning of Superbowl Sunday.

Brown B even got his turn.

Baby smiles are the best!


He's getting bigger but his little feet are still pretty cute.

Apparently I'm not the only one that finds baby feet entertaining.

As far as I'm concerned, this can pass for a school picture. Save a few bucks on that one. I mean, that is if you don't count the thousands of dollars of camera and computer equipment.

Here's a real smile out of LT. I was lucky to catch this before he decided to smile for the camera.


Because a two and a half year old smiling for the camera looks like this. Nice, eh?

Trying to get the boys to sit together and look at the camera but the only thing they'd look at was the TV. At least it was football.

"Honk."

I'm afraid I may have unintentionally taught LT this fun party trick.

"Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta hug."

So yeah, I put my boys in matching train sweaters and tried to coerce them into sitting together for pictures. Fatherhood changes a man...

Little guy in a big bed

We took a picture of LT about this age in our old king size bed. Now we have a queen, but Adler still looks pretty small in our bed.

My three boys

Doing what boys do best... sitting in front of the TV.

Proof I've got a toof

Its his bottom right, although just this morning we found his second one, bottom left. The kid isn't even 5 months yet.

Brothers

Playing on the floor together.
One of my favorite times of day is when the boys first wake up. Adler usually wakes up before LT. When we hear LT, we head into his bed and the boys love just playing together on LTs bed for a few minutes. One of the first things out of LTs mouth each morning is, "Where is Adyar? I need to give him a hug and a kiss". I love seeing them smile and laugh together.

Keeping us on our toes

Adler is constantly trying to wrestle his way out of things. I never once buckled LT into a bouncy chair or stroller. I would put him high on counters in the bouncy chair and never once worried that he would get himself out of them. LT never tried to pry his way out of a stroller either. Adler is teaching us why those straps are put there. I have a bouncy chair in our bathroom so that I can shower and leave him there. I happened to, luckily, look out one morning (when he was just weeks old) and he had almost wriggled his way out of the bouncy. From that day on, both Brian and I strap him in.
The Bumbo chairs (pictured in these photos) don't have straps. We put this chair on counters and tables with LT, but I wouldn't dare do that with Adler. These pictures were with him on the floor, and me watching. As you can see, he is trying his best to get out of it, and he almost did.
Parenting would be pretty boring if the second kid was the same as the first, but you don't know any different. Adler sure keeps us on our toes, constantly. I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg too.
Using his arms as best he can to push his body up and out.Trying the other direction, maybe this way will work better.
Taking a rest and devising a new plan to get out of it.

Bird World

Oftentimes in the mornings LT doesn't want to go anywhere. He just wants to play toys in our basement. Today was no exception. When we asked him if he wanted to go to the zoo, he insisted that we stay home, so we did. However, at lunch, he started crying because he wanted to go to the zoo, I guess we misunderstood. We made him a deal that if he took a good nap, we would all go to the zoo after everyone woke up. The plan worked, he was asleep less than 20 minutes after lunch.
During the lunch discussion about the zoo, we asked him what animals he wanted to see. He became fixated on seeing bird world. Its probably the oldest building in the zoo, definitely the sinkiest. But... we promised him we would go there. He said he wanted to see blue birds and red birds and show the birds to his brother.
When the boys both woke up, we packed everyone into the car and headed for the zoo. LT chatted the whole way about going to bird world and all the birds he was going to show his brother. LT was also very insistent that we figure out what birds eat. Neither Brian or I were confident in our abilities to answer that question for LT.
As usual, their personalities showed through from the time we got out of the car. LT very serious about getting to bird world as fast as possible to find out what birds eat, while Adler laughed and smiled in the bjorn, just happy to be outside.
Adler in the bjorn smiling.

Alder learning about the birds from his big brother.
Magically, the first really colored birds we saw were blue and red! LT insisted that we take a picture of them.
In a hurry getting to bird world.
LT was really excited about this exhibit because it had no windows.
The exit from Bird World leads you right to the penguin habitat. LT asked a few questions about the penguins and we were just about to move on when Bri noticed that the penguin feeding was just 5 minutes later. We stayed and watched the penguins eat their herring. Above are the three boys learning about penguins from the zookeeper.
LT riding on the ox pulling the covered wagon. Next to Bird World, I think this has been there the longest. They both were definitely there when Bri and I were kids.
After about 2 hours of the zoo, LT didn't want to leave, but Adler was fading. I took Adler on a drive around Park Hill while he napped in the car. LT and Brian stayed for another 1/2 hour. Oftentimes I think LT is a big kid now, but when I came back to pick him up, he was pushing his stroller and I could hardly see his head. He just looked like such a small little guy. Compared to Adler, he's a big kid, but in reality he's still just a little guy still.
After the zoo, we headed to our favorite pizza joint, Oblios. Oblios is just blocks from where both of us grew up. Growing up, however, the neighborhood had no restaurants, and definitely no Oblios. Now, we take any chance we can get to drive across town to eat their pizza. Its become a habit to go after afternoon visits to the zoo.

Toothers came party for #2

Adler's first tooth popped though today or at least we noticed it for the first time. His toothers came party amounted to him sleeping though the better part of a play-date for LT and his friends. Just another example of life being a little different for the second child.

Inevitably I went back and looked up the post about LT's first tooth - the bottom front right tooth was the first for both boys. But that's where the similarities end. LT was quite a bit older and, *sigh*, apparently sleeping though the night for as many as twelve hours. I think Adler's best stretch of sleep last night was a grand total of three hours straight. Maybe he'll sleep better now that this tooth has broken though. Maybe.

A, mostly, good afternoon

Today, LT had a few of his buddies over for a last minute playdate to help end the week on a good note, or so I thought (and it was mostly good).
Z with a car.
Baby Sean, who will forever in my mind be "baby Sean". Hes almost a year younger than LT and at the time he was born seemed so small compared to LT. He's talking, walking, playing just like the older boys now, but I still can't get the baby out of my mind. He has a younger sister, Erin, who is a few weeks younger than Adler. She was at the playdate too, but was sleeping at the time I actually thought to get the camera out and take pictures.
Sofi testing out Adler's bumper jumper.
LT in the jumper playing some game with Z.Before nap, I told LT we could make cookies when he woke up. He was so excited about this that after about 1 hour of napping (he usually takes pretty long naps), he woke up announcing he was ready to make cookies. Lesson learned, I will not mention something so fun BEFORE nap. However, I kept my promise and we went to the kitchen and made some oatmeal butterscotch cookies. When his buddies arrived, the dogs were creating more chaos than good and so I locked Bowen up in our room. He knocked down the gate and headed straight for the kitchen. I heard some ruckus upstairs when we were playing in the basement and rushed up, but not fast enough. Bowen ate 2 trays of cooked cookies and a bowl of raw cookie dough. This made him pretty sick and I spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon cleaning up after him while Shawn watched the boys. LT created some sort of game that involved going to sleep on the guest bed and Z brought some tractors to make the game more exciting. When I took a break from cleaning and walked in, they had a whole family of tractors. It was, mostly, a good afternoon.

Playdate with Phoebe and baby Shane

As I said in the previous entry, we don't venture out as much as we used to due to different schedules with the two boys. However, this morning, we went to see Phoebe and her brother Shane (2 months older than Adler).
Adler and Shane playing on the play table. Its amazing how much difference 2 months makes at this age.
Adler playing.
LT taking a break from playing trains to make his usual facial expression for the camera.
Z playing cars or trains, as usual.
Phoebe monitoring all the boys to make sure they are all in line. What a fun morning, thanks, Beth!

Just a few shots

LT is often heard saying, "I yuv my brodder, I yuv Addyar". Its more than we, as parents, could ask for when raising two little boys. I hope it lasts. Between the two boys sleeping needs, we find ourselves at home a lot more now, which is perfectly fine. Here are some shots from the other morning at home.
Adler watching the star on his playmat.
Apparently this is how 2.5 year old LTs smile. Every shot I have of him from the past few days is the same.
Adler loves his jumpy.
A little drool never hurt anyone.
He's definitely found his hand, and thumb on many occasions. LT was never a thumb sucker, will Adler be?

Little Buddha

Adler has been very patient with me as I experiment and learn with my new camera. Below are are few shots from an impromptu photo shoot a few weeks ago.


Little Buddha?

A happy little guy with a glimmer in his eye.

His patience isn't limitless, however, and here he's letting me know that hes done with pictures for a while. He knows how to use that bottom lip to express his discontent!

Funny boys

I laugh daily, actually hourly. My boys make me smile and laugh constantly. As Adler grows up, their friendship becomes more apparent. Adler is a happy guy, LT says funny things constantly. What better job is there than being a mom?
Adler adores his big brother, LT loves being a big brother and helping. He hands Adler toys, plays on his excersaucer with him, rolls on the floor with him, translates what Adler is "saying", I couldn't ask for more. All of this makes the trying times with two worthwhile.
Adler strapped into his car seat, Nikes on of course, ready for some adventure with his big brother.
Happy baby.
Funny 2.5 year old. (When I asked LT what he was doing in this picture he said, "Just being cute!"

My two love bugs.
As I wrote this blog, I realized how much water damage my little point and shoot camera has. I told LT, "I think I will go get a new camera today". He said, "Oh, you gonna get a big camera yike dada?" I said, "No, mom isn't responsible enough, I would lose it, or ruin it or get snot on it or who knows what else." LT said, "Mama, I know you can do it, I just know you can do it and get a big camera". I am glad someone has faith in my ability to not ruin everything.